My hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry (Luke Pollard) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide Parliament with a further update on the Armoured Cavalry Programme, commonly known as Ajax, following issues raised on Exercise Titan Storm...

My hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry (Luke Pollard) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide Parliament with a further update on the Armoured Cavalry Programme, commonly known as Ajax, following issues raised on Exercise Titan Storm...

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide Parliament with a further update on the Armoured Cavalry Programme, commonly known as Ajax, following issues raised on Exercise Titan Storm in November 2025.

Since my last update to this House, where I provided the findings of the Ministerial Review,...

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide Parliament with a further update on the Armoured Cavalry Programme, commonly known as Ajax, following issues raised on Exercise Titan Storm in November 2025.

Since my last update to this House, where I provided the findings of the Ministerial Review,...

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2026 to Question 111023 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, what were the nature and purpose of the modifications above the current production baseline.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2026 to Question 111023 on Ajax Vehicles: Procurement, what were the nature and purpose of the modifications above the current production baseline.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the Capability Drop 3 Ajax-family vehicles that have undergone acceptance testing by the Joint Acceptance Group required concessions against specifications or contractual requirements to be submitted by General Dynamics; and how many were approved.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the Capability Drop 3 Ajax-family vehicles that have undergone acceptance testing by the Joint Acceptance Group required concessions against specifications or contractual requirements to be submitted by General Dynamics; and how many were approved.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Ajax armoured vehicles had been delivered by General Dynamics to a) his Department and b) the Army as of 1 November 2025.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Ajax armoured vehicles had been delivered by General Dynamics to a) his Department and b) the Army as of 1 November 2025.

My hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry (Luke Pollard) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide an update to Parliament on the British Army’s Armoured Cavalry Programme (commonly known as Ajax).

The problems with Ajax are a...

My hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry (Luke Pollard) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide an update to Parliament on the British Army’s Armoured Cavalry Programme (commonly known as Ajax).

The problems with Ajax are a...

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide an update to Parliament on the British Army’s Armoured Cavalry Programme (commonly known as Ajax).

The problems with Ajax are a matter of public record under the last government. Given the programme’s troubled history, prior to granting Initial Operating Capability,...

I am releasing this statement to the House today to provide an update to Parliament on the British Army’s Armoured Cavalry Programme (commonly known as Ajax).

The problems with Ajax are a matter of public record under the last government. Given the programme’s troubled history, prior to granting Initial Operating Capability,...

Motion that this House has considered the future of the Ajax Programme. Agreed to on question.

Motion that this House has considered the future of the Ajax Programme. Agreed to on question.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the future of the Ajax Programme.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. This debate has been a long time coming. Such is the Kafkaesque procedure for selecting debates that this application was granted only at the eighth time...

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the future of the Ajax Programme.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. This debate has been a long time coming. Such is the Kafkaesque procedure for selecting debates that this application was granted only at the eighth time...

I thank my hon. Friend for initiating this important debate. Does he agree with me that it is important for the Minister to set out that in 2022 I and colleagues on the Defence Committee went to Merthyr Tydfil, did a review and clearly stated that IOC was nowhere near...

I thank my hon. Friend for initiating this important debate. Does he agree with me that it is important for the Minister to set out that in 2022 I and colleagues on the Defence Committee went to Merthyr Tydfil, did a review and clearly stated that IOC was nowhere near...

I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent point. I was not going to cover it in my speech, so it is definitely worth adding to the record for the Minister to address in his response.

The interim National Armaments Director, the new National Armaments Director, the Chief of the General...

I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent point. I was not going to cover it in my speech, so it is definitely worth adding to the record for the Minister to address in his response.

The interim National Armaments Director, the new National Armaments Director, the Chief of the General...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. On Boxer specifically, just before Christmas I received an answer to a parliamentary question from the Department, saying that it now will not give the initial operational capability date for Boxer, and that it is subject to the long-awaited defence investment plan....

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. On Boxer specifically, just before Christmas I received an answer to a parliamentary question from the Department, saying that it now will not give the initial operational capability date for Boxer, and that it is subject to the long-awaited defence investment plan....

I absolutely concur with my right hon. Friend that Boxer is a vital capability—even more so, given the training pause that we are now encountering with Ajax—and we need to get Boxer into service as quickly as possible. I welcome the speeding up of that process overall.

Meanwhile in October, the...

I absolutely concur with my right hon. Friend that Boxer is a vital capability—even more so, given the training pause that we are now encountering with Ajax—and we need to get Boxer into service as quickly as possible. I welcome the speeding up of that process overall.

Meanwhile in October, the...

I thank my hon. Friend for his generosity in giving way. As well as the delays to Boxer, there are now strong rumours about further delays to the upgrade of Challenger 2 to Challenger 3. As Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land is responsible for both programmes, does my hon. Friend agree...

I thank my hon. Friend for his generosity in giving way. As well as the delays to Boxer, there are now strong rumours about further delays to the upgrade of Challenger 2 to Challenger 3. As Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land is responsible for both programmes, does my hon. Friend agree...

I thank my hon. Friend again, and I absolutely concur. With the delays to Ajax, we can no longer afford to fail to upgrade Challenger 2 to Challenger 3. The fact that the timeline of that has slipped to indefinite is a serious concern for our armoured capability.

A successful export...

I thank my hon. Friend again, and I absolutely concur. With the delays to Ajax, we can no longer afford to fail to upgrade Challenger 2 to Challenger 3. The fact that the timeline of that has slipped to indefinite is a serious concern for our armoured capability.

A successful export...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) on securing this important debate. My constituency is home to General Dynamics, and its site at Pentrebach is where Ajax vehicles are currently assembled. I am here today to try...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) on securing this important debate. My constituency is home to General Dynamics, and its site at Pentrebach is where Ajax vehicles are currently assembled. I am here today to try...

Many of my constituents are employed in this sector, by General Dynamics and in the wider supply chain. Would my hon. Friend agree that those are the very types of secure, well-paid jobs that we need across the south Wales region?

Many of my constituents are employed in this sector, by General Dynamics and in the wider supply chain. Would my hon. Friend agree that those are the very types of secure, well-paid jobs that we need across the south Wales region?

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend’s comment. It is important that we have certainty for those jobs and sustain and increase such jobs across south Wales, because that is integral to this Government’s growth agenda in communities in Wales and across the UK.

Merthyr Tydfil has a long, proud and...

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend’s comment. It is important that we have certainty for those jobs and sustain and increase such jobs across south Wales, because that is integral to this Government’s growth agenda in communities in Wales and across the UK.

Merthyr Tydfil has a long, proud and...

It is a pleasure, as ever, to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) for securing this debate today.

As has already been laid out, the Ajax programme has been a disaster. It has been repeatedly delayed...

It is a pleasure, as ever, to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) for securing this debate today.

As has already been laid out, the Ajax programme has been a disaster. It has been repeatedly delayed...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) on introducing the debate, and thank him for his service in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment. May I take the House back to a visit I made to the NATO Forward...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) on introducing the debate, and thank him for his service in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment. May I take the House back to a visit I made to the NATO Forward...